Tag: swimrun

This is a long post….I’ll try and keep it fun. If you purely want to know about the race, scroll down and look for the header. If you’re interested in the whole experience, start here….

In case this is the first time you’ve read about a Swimrun, here’s the brief.
Swimrun is a race run in pairs across consecutive running and swimming legs, usually held over rugged terrain and in stunning locations. This is a relatively new sport, especially in the UK, but we now have a handful of races to choose from which all pose their own very different challenges.
The race we were doing was Breca Buttermere in the surroundings of the UK’s Lake District, this would be lake swims, trail runs and a hell of a lot of vertical ascent.

So at 9:30am on Friday morning, I’d done the school run, kissed my wife goodbye and climbed into my teammate Toms car for our romantic weekend break. It took us over 9 hours to drive up to the Lakes, and somehow we hadn’t fallen out with each other yet. We discussed the subtle differences between Bracken, Heather and Ferns. The main difference being we’ve never met anyone called Bracken.
We came off the motorway at Penrith (which I thought was in Scotland) and when we reached Keswick we hit the single track roads for the last 7 or so miles to Buttermere.

The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, waterfalls, lakes, streams, fells and valleys. Everywhere you looked there was water, you could hear water running at all times, the rocks had water coming out of them, even the grass was crying. Neither of us had brought a coat.

We arrived at the Youth Hostel (YHA Buttermere) and were welcomed by Ben, the race organiser. We checked in to our room and to kill a bit of time had a stroll down to the first Swim transition point. We immediately realised that there were several bottlenecks on the way to the lake, 2 kissing gates and a steep bank to negotiate before entering the water. I dipped my toes in and Tom took the opportunity to work on his stone skimming (lame) – it was chilly to say the least, we re-assured ourselves by imagining how warm it would be the next day.

We strolled back to the YHA and chatted with some of the other teams, Mike and Niels from the Danish Koge Tri Team 2000 and Richard from Athlone Otters shared our table as we filled up on Pasta, Rice & Chilli. They’d done a Swimrun in Denmark and one in Llanberis respectively. We joked about how flat Denmark was and how big Mikes hands were. The hostel was filled with outdoorsy looking types with down-stuffed jackets, trail shoes and pre-race compression wear. I had skinny jeans on and no coat.

Next stop was the bio-security checks and registration, this went smoothly, we had all the kit, our shoes were clean, and we were given our race vests and red swimcaps. Very efficient guys – good job.

There was a nervous energy in the hostel already so we decided to stroll down to the pub to watch Wales v Belgium in the Euros and stay relaxed. There were 2 pubs in the village, The Fish Inn and The Bridge. Neither of them were showing the football. In fact, neither of them had a TV. We were told the nearest one would be in Keswick……7 miles away, even if we ran there we’d probably only catch the last 10 minutes, and it was raining, and neither of us had a coat.
So we stayed at The Bridge and sampled the local Beers, Buttermere Blonde, Whistling Pig Pilsner and Mowdy Pale Ale being our favourites.

Here we met Josh and his partner Lottie. Josh would be racing in a mixed team on Saturday and Lottie was there to cheer them on. Me and Josh bonded over our matching Red Bull Steeplechase hoodies whilst Tom looked on enviously despite calling us “Steeplechase Wankers” in his head.

This was a perfect way to keep the pre-race excitement at a manageable level. Its always good to remind yourself that we do this for fun. We’re not professionals, we take well earned holiday from our jobs, never take yourself too seriously.

With this in mind, we headed back to the hostel and sat outside with a can of beer each. It was 11pm and the fells were still silhouetted against the sky. We could hear the waterfalls and streams and as the temperature started to drop we remembered we didn’t have coats and we should probably head inside and get some sleep.

After a terrible night’s sleep due to the creaking bunk beds that Tom was too tall for, we were greeted in the morning by our room-mates Haemish and Fredrik. Turns out they raced the event last year so we were keen to get some tips. Unfortunately, it also turned out they came last so we decided to ignore all their advice anyway. The fact they’d decided to return to face their demons was a sign that this was going to be a good day.

8:00am: we went downstairs for breakfast, nothing new on raceday is the usual approach isn’t it? Not today, hash browns, sausage, egg and toast please. With a nice steaming hot mug of coffee to wash it down. We still had plenty of time before the 10am race-start and we were going to be out there for a long time, so we thought it best to eat well.

Tom declared “Why stand when you can sit? Why sit when you can lie down?” and with that, we went back to our room for a lie down. People were already milling around in wetsuits with 2 hours to go. Maybe it was like heat acclimatisation?

9:30am: Time to get our kit on, I stuffed my wetsuit pockets with 6 GU Peanut Butter gels, shoved my sealed bandage up my right sleeve, and pulled my socks up over the cut-off bits of wetsuit legs that I’d saved. Then we sat back on our beds and drank some more electrolyte drinks.

9:50am: Pre-race Gel time. The best gels I’ve ever tasted. If ever there’s a disaster where there’s a food shortage, I’ll happily live on these! We head down the stairs and outside to join the neoprene charged atmosphere outside.

9:59am: We didn’t want to get stuck in the bottlenecks in the first 600m run so we’d lined up at the front. People were eyeing us up. We probably looked serious. Guns’n’Roses came on over the loudspeakers.

10:00am

THE RACE

As Axl Rose’s voice screamed out “Welcome To the Jungle…” Ben opened the gate and we were off, athletes at the back were all a bit bemused as they were busy dancing but the sentiment wasn’t lost on us at the front.

We kept up with the other teams along the metalled road before a sharp turn took us through a series of gates and towards the first lake. We jumped a fence next to one gate, adrenaline surging and impatience getting the better of us.
600m down to the first shoreline swim along Buttermere and we were well placed going into the water. Unfortunately, the water was bloody freezing and it completely took my breath away. I splashed water over my face but as I submerged myself I could feel my body going into panic mode. I kept my head up for a few strokes whilst the water got inside my wetsuit and helped to insulate me and I finally got into an uncomfortable rhythm. The field wasn’t well balanced at this point and there were some strong swimmers surging through the water with hand paddles. Tom kept catching the wake of other swimmers and would fly off leaving me in no-mans land, I was having to work really hard to try and get close. We quickly learned that the swim sections were going to be more about keeping me on Toms toes, rather than trying to latch onto teams with hand-paddles.
The water was crystal clear, it was like an underwater scene from a film.

We climbed out after 600m and started running, I think we picked up a couple of places but we kept ourselves in check, reminding ourselves that this was going to be a long day. The 2nd swim was on us, this time across Crummock Water, the wind had picked up quite strongly and the water was actually quite choppy. Tom sighted us upwind slightly so we could get an easier swim in to the shore. I took a few mouthfuls of water when I got hit by the swells but it was so clean you could swallow it without adverse effects. Halfway across the lake, we found ourselves scrabbling over some rocks with some bemusement, it must have looked like we were walking on water from the waters edge!
This was another 600m swim and by the end of it I was starting to worry that I wasn’t strong enough in the water to complete the course. Enough with the negative thoughts though, they would return later but this was too early in the day. We hauled ourselves up the shore, swimming right up until we were less than knee deep, no point dragging legs through deep water.

Next stage was a 5.7k run with just shy of 200m climb. We were reduced to walking quite quickly, hands pushing off knees, calf muscles on fire. The hill turned into a rocky staircase hewn out of the mountain itself and we dragged ourselves up, pausing only to see the lake we’d just swam in far below us and a steady stream of swimmers still making their way across.
We reached the summit and took a slight wrong turn which meant scrambling over some rocks to get back on track, sheer drops down to our right kept us focussed as we got ourselves back on safer ground. Tom saw someone go head-first over a ridge further ahead, scrabbling on the rocks with terror in her eyes as her hand-paddles slid over the surface. Someone grabbed her by the legs and pulled her back up. A quick lesson there in concentration and course respect, we need to be careful.

With each run section, any climbing would mean an equal descent to get back to the water. I overcooked it twice on this descent much to Tom’s amusement. The first time in slow motion, clipping an earth mound with my foot and then my ankle before crashing down into the Bracken. The second time, the trail took a turn and I didn’t, within an instant I was on the floor. Tom was in bits.

Without further incidents we made it down to the first checkpoint and we entered the 3rd swim. This was one of the two longest 1k efforts. Tom made a terrible entry into the water and ended up falling backwards over a submerged rock. This played into our hands though as it meant we latched onto a group. We stayed with them making great progress through the water until the guy Tom was drafting got dropped. In an effort to pull us back to the group I couldn’t handle the pace so we resigned ourselves to finishing this swim on our own. This was my favourite swim section, crystal clear again, several degrees warmer than Lake Buttermere and one of the big ones over before I’d even got chance to think about it too much. We got quite confused at one point as a torrential downpour came out of nowhere. Breathe to the left and it was fine, 3 strokes later, breathe to the right and it was Armageddon. Fortunately, it was over almost as quickly as it had started.

Great support getting out of the swim section again, in fact, all around the course there were walkers, hikers, helpers, locals and they all gave encouragement. We must have surprised a few of them running round in wetsuits though! Proper food at the checkpoints too, cake, maltloaf, crisps. I stuck to a routine of water, coke, banana, then leave with a few jelly babies.

The longest run of the course (12.8k) was fairly easy, a bit of up, a bit of down and a couple of tricky navigational patches but we kept it ticking over nicely. We both run lots of trails so it was perfect for us.

By the time we got back down to the next swim, it was pretty rough weather again. There was a bit of chop on Crummock Water and the swim exit 800m away looked a long way off.
This was a tough swim, in my head I thought it was one of the 1k swims which didn’t help. One of the kayakers asked if we were OK at one point, probably because Tom had to keep stopping to let me get back on his feet. I was starting to wonder how bad the weather would have to get before they started thinking about cutting the course short.

Once we got out here we were into a series of short runs and short swims which everyone had been looking forward to. 2.1 run, 0.4 swim, 1.2 run and as we came off the path to enter the 6th swim (0.5k) Tom got trapped hip deep in a bog. This time it was my turn to laugh as a marshall came over to help us get him out with his shoes still on his feet. At least we were still in good spirits!

Out of this swim and it was on to the last big one. The series of short swims/runs had brought my core temp right down. I hit a low point and I mentioned to Tom that I was really starting to feel the cold. He told me I wasn’t, that it was probably just my body crossing over to fat burning after using all its carb stores. He tried to cheer me up by singing “A message to you, Rudy” but changing Rudy to Marchy. It nearly worked. This was almost fun.

As we were about to enter the last big swim the marshalls were asking me if I was OK, they said I looked cold. Tom meanwhile was playing with a dog. We were told to sight off the big white building above the shore. The Daelgarth hotel. This seemed fine to me, it was big so it looked close. Tom realised that I was being tricked by the whole perspective/far away thing but thought it best to let me believe it was quite a short swim.

As we entered the water, one of the dogs came with us, I was tempted to give it my race vest and run round to meet them on the other side. I asked Tom to keep it as slow as he could and that if I wasn’t tapping his feet he was going too quick.

During this swim, I took a breath to the left and I’m convinced that I saw an Osprey swoop down to catch a fish about 50m away from us. It was a fleeting glance, and I was concentrating on staying as close to Tom as possible so I might have imagined it.

We made it to the other side, Toms swimming had been straight as an arrow again, as it had been all day and we walked up the shore. I felt bad for holding us up in the swims. Every time Tom took a stroke, he moved 2 meters ahead, it was unreal.

There was a check point here, the final one before the climb up Dale Head to the infamous Honister Pass. I tried to drink some coke, I tried to eat some cake, I tried to eat some jelly babies and I tried to eat a piece of Kendal mint cake. I say tried a lot here as my body wasn’t working. I was Hypothermic. I started violently shaking and I couldn’t move my jaw properly. Tom saw how bad I was and admits he was pretty concerned at this point. We started walking towards the Dale Head climb and took on another GU gel. Someone passed us at this point and said to their team-mate “‘kin hell, that guy’s blue!!”

The sun came out a little bit which I was hugely grateful for, and the trail was getting steeper by the second. My core temperature started coming up and I was feeling much better, we gel’d up again and used the fence posts to pull ourselves up the climb.

The view back down to Lake Buttermere was stunning, and as the climb started to level out a bit we could see that we were only half way up. The winds started picking up as we got closer to the ridge, it was a struggle to stay on your feet at times and as we got closer to the top the sky started to fall on us.

We’d formed a little group with some teams from in front and behind us at this point and it was reassuring to know there were other people around. Visibility had dropped to less than 10m and we were being whipped with hailstones. It must have been at least 10° colder up here. We’d already put our swim hats back on for warmth and we were really concentrating on locating the arrow markers. The briefing had said that if we were likely to get lost on course, it would be here.

After a couple of false summits, we reached the Cairn that had been mentioned in the safety briefing and we knew we had to head south from there down to the quarry. A steep descent followed, sometimes runnable, sometimes not. Technical in places and at other times, just easier to rest your quads and walk.

We spotted a tent at the bottom and the marshals were waving madly at us, this was the final checkpoint I think. Tom was ready to power through, he’d had enough calories and just needed some water. I grabbed a banana and we left at a run as a French team arrived.

We had made good ground on this section, it was hard work, and scary in places. The weather had thrown everything at us but we knew that it was all downhill to the end now. The next 4 or 5k were along a Tarmac road, the Honister Pass. Amazing on a bike I’d imagine, but hard on the quads at this moment in time.

Cars along here were all waving and cheering, even rattling cowbells for us. We were sure that the French team were going to come past us any minute now but they never did. This was a 10k section and it must have taken us 90 minutes at least. I was actually looking forward to getting back in the water!

We hit the final swim, 400m. Tom sighting it perfectly, me struggling on behind. I wasn’t able to even kick slightly any more. Relying on my feeble arms and shoulders to produce all my power. As I approached the final landing bay my body had nothing left. Tom waded back into the water and we showed the marshals and spectators exactly what the Swimrun team ethic is all about.

1.8km left to run. And that would be it. All over. I felt sad! I can’t remember if it was raining. We didn’t have coats. We were grinning like idiots. The final trail run alongside Buttemere was beautiful. It felt like we were flying, In fact, Tom was. He tried to style it out with a commando roll and he still thinks it looked cool.

The path entered a rocky tunnel, it was pitch black and we were shouting and whooping. There was a troll in there, facing the wall and swaying. I was terrified. It was like that bit in that Will Smith film, I Am Legend. (Turns out it was just an old man with his wife and we must have scared the shit out of him as we steamed through shouting our heads off)

A moment later we were rounding the final corner, the Youth hostel was in sight. The Breca flags that marked the finish line were flapping in the wind and cheers went up as we came into the driveway. We gave each other Bro-hugs and Ben came over with beers for us!

Seven hours and eight minutes it had taken us. And we finished in 15th place.

Post race

We hung around outside to cheer in the next couple of teams before heading in to get warm and dry. We still didn’t have coats.

I was shaking again and desperately needed some proper clothes on. We hung up our wetsuits and shoes in the drying room and hit the showers and free massage tables.

We swapped stories with other teams as we waited for dinner, still cheering finishers in from the dining room. Everyone was buzzing about how much fun they’d had, no one asked about times, it wasn’t important. We cracked on with the beers and devoured the Sausage and mash when it came out. The crumble and custard for pudding was most welcome too.

The biggest cheer of the day came when the final team crossed the line almost 11 hours after the start. That’s a long time to be out on that course and I know I couldn’t have kept up that effort for that long. Chapeau! The kitchen had kept back some plates of food for them when they arrived too, nice touch and desperately needed, they didn’t even remove their wetsuits!

After dinner we went to the pub again to reflect on an amazing event. Spectacular scenery. Great encouragement and support. Well organised and really looked after in the water. Without a doubt, the best event I’ve ever done.

The thing that really made it special, was that you had a teammate all the way through it. Someone to encourage you when you felt low. Someone to help you up when you fall. An extra pair of eyes to make sure we both took everything in from the experience. And someone to distract the marshals whilst their teammate tries to stop looking so dead.

I experienced amazing highs during the race, and at other times felt terrible, but never once wanted to pull out. I’ve never run that far before, and never swam that far either. I verged on cramps in every muscle from the hips downwards at some point in the race but somehow pulled through it.

And now, sitting in my living room 3 nights later writing this, my legs still feel battered but I’m still buzzing. In fact, I’m still wearing my Breca finishers T shirt. I’m already hoping we can do it again next year, and that we can take a crew of club mates with us.

So for the last couple of weeks I’ve been pretty much resting up. I’ve logged about 30 miles of running and on top of that I’ve finally managed to get some race specific training done.

Me and Tom have been able to get up to Southwater lake and train in full kit. Swimming up and down the lake, jumping out and running around it before repeating.

The first time I tried this I found it really tough. I very quickly learnt how difficult it is to swim in your shoes. Its like dragging a lead weight behind you, and attempting to kick is murder on your leg muscles (which you’re trying to save for the run anyway.)

Talking points from the first attempt:

My goggles don’t work (cheapo emergency Zoggs from Tesco)

I don’t have the strength needed for paddles

I will not need a pull bouy

I don’t get on with swim hats

But on a more positive note

My wetsuit felt good, even on the run.

No Chafing

Running and swimming go together very well for me

The water was sooo warm!

My Inov8 X-Talons feel fine, if a little heavy in the water.

So before our next training session together I bought some new goggles, some base layers and some Bodyglide to help avoid chafing over longer distances.
Our next attempt was in the sea and there was quite a lot of chop. I’ve mentioned before that Tom is a great swimmer and this really showed in the sea. I struggled against the current in whichever direction and the salt water made me want to throw up everytime I downed a mouthful.
But we managed a decent distance out to a shipping bouy and back, we estimated it at about a mile. It looked much closer but when we finally got there I realised that its just fucking big! I’m glad we’re not swimming against strong currents at Buttermere, and praying for the lake to look like a mirror come Saturday morning.
My new goggles felt really comfortable, although I couldn’t see further than my hand as the water was too stirred up.

Last night we got up to Southwater again for our final Swimrun specific training session. This time I’d cut the legs off my wetsuit and donned my Gococo Compression socks too.

This session went perfectly, we dialled into a nice pace in the water with me swimming right on Toms toes. We’ve agreed that if I tap him on the foot then he’s just to ignore it, in fact, it means he can avoid checking to see if I’m still on his toes. If I pull his foot, it means I need to ease off the pace a bit.

We won’t be using a tether to keep us together as its just another bit of kit that we have to worry about, we’re going very minimal: no paddles, no buoys, no tether.

Visibility seemed much better this time round, Tom assured me it was just my goggles. I was actually able to see his feet. I’m anticipating this to be even better on the day up in the crystal waters of Buttermere.

Once again, climbing out and getting into our running stride felt good, we’re both pretty strong runners and fairly equal ability so we should both feel similar levels of comfort/discomfort on the day and know when we can push or ease off.

So thats training done, kit finalised, disclaimers signed. What’s next? Well, a 7 hour drive, 7+ hours of racing together, and 7 hours in the car coming home….we’re not even sure if we like each other that much! Tom’s already mentioned wearing a Belgium shirt for the Wales vs Belgium match in the Euro’s on Friday night – I’m Welsh by the way!

Final Kitlist:

Goggles: Speedo Futura Biofuse (Black)

Base Layer: Nike Pro Core Short Sleeve T – Maru Swim Jammers

Wetsuit: HEAD Swimrun Rough (Legs trimmed above the knee)

Socks: Gococo Compression Superior

Shoes: Inov8 X-Talon 212

If you’re going to be there at the weekend, I look forward to meeting you. Please make yourself known, especially if you’re staying in the YHA.

Total Miles: 56 Miles
Average Pace: 8:35 min/mileLongest Run:16 Miles – 29% of totalSpeedwork: 8.1 miles – 14%

(Week Ending 12th June)

So this is the last big mileage week before Breca Swimrun. I’d ideally liked to have banked lots of run miles next week too but its almost time for the taper and some much more specific swimrun training to take place.

This is Race week!Not the big one, but a chance to put the afterburners on in not one, but two races in the space of 3 days.
First up…..

The Littlehampton Beach Run – West Sussex Fun Run League.

This week, the track session was replaced with a 5 mile race just down the road in Littlehampton. A chance to put our track-based intervals to the test in race conditions.

I messed up my button-pressing when the gun went off, only managing to get my watch started about 30 seconds into the race. I put in a good effort for the full 5 miles, and I’d imagine the mixed terrain of sand, shingle and grass as well as leaping over rock pools and seaweed-covered stones added on a couple of minutes to my overall time.
I’d hope for a comfortable sub-30 on a road 5 miler at the moment so in these conditions I was pretty happy with a finishing time of 30:47. Good enough for 31st place and 2nd club member home after my Breca teammate Tom.

Shortly followed by…

The Tuff Fitty Lido Aqauthlon – 400m/5k

This was an opportunity to put my swimming and running together with good solid efforts in both events.
I had a strong well paced swim and climbed out in 6:20, I then took almost half my life to dry my feet, put on some socks and tie my laces, all the while watching other athletes exit the water, slip straight into elasticated shoes and run off. This didn’t bother me in the slightest, the race was a club event so not overly competitive, and there was no way I was risking damaging my feet by going sockless at this stage of my training. I’ll leave that for the next Aquathlon.
My run was probably the most enjoyable 5k I’ve ever done, I literally felt like I was flying. I don’t know what my actual time was, I was clocked at 20:05 from leaving the water to reaching the finish, but I’m sure at least 2 minutes of that were spent in transition. This could have been a new 5k PB and even the sub18 which I think is on the cards, but we’ll never know.

I managed to chase down plenty of runners, but not quite the top 2, no prizes in this race for 3rd place, but if I get my act together in transition next time round it could be a close call at the top. I’m coming for you Tom!

I’d put in some solid miles on the evenings before these races too, 8 hilly ones on Tuesday night, and 18 on Thursday split in the middle with a 1 hour swim, but everything outside the races was done at an easy conversational pace.

On Sunday I managed to get out in the evening and run some steep hills around Cissbury and Chanctonbury Ring, I came pretty close to turning an ankle on one downhill and narrowly avoided breaking a toe when I kicked a rock extremely hard. I think its my body saying its tired and needs training to end soon. There’s a point just before you taper when you should be right on the edge of peak performance and/or injury, I think I’m just about there!

So for the next couple of weeks, I’m planning on getting used to my race kit, the only thing I’ve tested thoroughly so far are the Gococo socks which I wouldn’t run without now!

Running will be almost entirely on hills or in a wetsuit….or both. And I’m going to have to brave the open water in my wetsuit too and get used to the feeling of swimming in my shoes. I’ll also have to make a decision on the paddles and pull buoy, am I going to need them or not? I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m probably not strong enough for 6k of swimming with paddles.

Total Miles: 49 Miles
Average Pace: 7:38 min/mileLongest Run:10.4 Miles – 21% of totalSpeedwork:3.8 miles – 8% of total

Now that was a fun week of training. I pushed a bit harder in most of my runs this week just for a bit of fun. Nothing too strenuous but closer to tempo than easy pace.

I got a bit lost on my run home from swimming on Thursday, ended up skirting fields that I never knew existed. I’d like to be able to say it was beautiful, but I was shattered by that point and it was pitch black so I have no idea, I was just pleased to get home!

I took an opportunity to lead the Sunday social running group (ShoreFit Run Club) and push the pace with the lead group for a change. It turned out to be an unplanned progression run of sorts. I’d like to do more of my runs like this – Its the Kenyan way apparently. Start at a snails amble, and gradually pick it up until the last half mile is at an almost all out effort.

I’ve been reading More Fire by Toby Tanser recently. Its a fascinating insight into how the Kenyans have become so dominant in distance running. Yes, there’s the geographical and genetic factors, but mostly, there’s desire, belief and damn hard work.
According to Toby Tanser, most group runs in Kenya turn into progression runs as everyone takes a turn up front and no one wants to be the one to let the pace drop.

Anyway, away from the dusty roads of Iten and the Rift Valley, and back to Worthing, England….. and specifically, the running track.

I mentioned it was fun this week didn’t I? On Wednesday I took a pack of playing cards to the track to determine the evenings session.
We split the group into 3 teams of 7 or so runners, and dealt each team 5 cards.
The idea was that you turn your top card over and run that number of minutes at 5k pace, we walked the recoveries back to the start line ready to turn the next card. Tha aim of the game was to score as close to 21 as possible without going bust. In this game, Ace’s and Face’s were worth 1 minute.

Somehow, all 3 teams ended up scoring 21, albeit reaching it in different ways.

My team, ended up with efforts of 2mins, 8mins and 10mins – this was pretty brutal and by the time we got back to the start line, we could see from the other teams cards that we had to gamble otherwise we’d be in last place. The risk being that whatever we turned over we would have to run. Fortunately for us, it turned out to be an Ace (another 10 minute effort would have killed us!)

I’m looking forward to repeating this session later in the year, its great not knowing what your next effort will be. And the competitive element in trying to reach 21 adds a bit of fun, god knows running round in circles can get a bit, well…..repetitive.

On the swimming front, I managed one session in the pool and my wetsuit arrived right at the end of the week.
I’m on holiday for a week now and probably won’t get a chance to use it until I return. I’m already a bit apprehensive about the water temperature, I don’t really do cold.

Total Miles: 36 Miles
Average Pace: 8:11 min/mileLongest Run:13 miles – 36% of totalSpeedwork: 0 miles – 0% of total

A bit of a dull week I’m afraid.

Yep, I managed to do some running, but I sat out my Thursday Swimrun session as I had a bit of a niggle in my back. Instead, I opted for a quality recovery session, a nice long soak in an Epsom Salts Bath!

My track session this week was an hour focussed on technique. So that was lots of drills, and a few plyometrics with a few strides thrown in to emphasise the movement patterns.
In fact, I’m pretty sure this was where I put my back out, over-enthusiastically throwing out some reverse leg swings without doing a warm-up mile beforehand. Very bad example to set, Coach!

I did get a very nice 6 miler in, up and over Cissbury Ring at a good pace. This was great fun and this kind of hill work will definitely see my flat speed improve as my legs get stronger and stronger. (I am also fully aware of the elevation profile for Breca Swimrun and how insignificant my 568ft will be compared to race day!)

I managed a 13 miler from Brighton to Worthing which was a fairly easy effort and under 7:30min/mile pace, but there’s nothing more to say about that really.

This week I also went and did a Vinyasa Yoga session at Revitalise in Brighton/Hove with Alexa. I really enjoyed how invigorating this was, it’s not what I want out of every yoga session but for a Saturday morning I loved it.

The big news of this week is that I’ve ordered my swimrun wetsuit. I’ll hopefully have it by the end of week 8 and be able to start race specific training sessions, in race kit, in June.

I’ve gone for the HEAD Swimrun Rough which is an entry level wetsuit but I’ve seen people raving about the flexibility of it. Particularly for running in.

Total Miles: 50 Miles
Average Pace: 8:27 min/mileLongest Run:12 miles – 24% of totalSpeedwork: 4 miles – 8% of total

I’m back. My legs have returned. It took until Saturdays run but I’m feeling like I can get back into consistent miles again.

I don’t think I’ve quite got the balance back, the tail end of my week was pretty loaded but that’s just the way it went. I will try and split and scatter some shorter runs in my schedule going forwards.

“Something that comes in sixes?” – “EGGS!” shouts my wife in a fraction of a second. I tell you what, if Family Fortunes ever come knocking, she’s got it down.
That’s how the name of the workout came about and whilst it kind of makes sense here, written down, I’m pretty sure people at the track were scratching their heads and wondering when they were getting their sandwich rewards.

To make it tougher, I split each Threshold Effort into two 5 minute sections, with the 2nd half being faster.

The idea of the session was to run the final 10 minutes of the session at the same pace as you’d run the first 10 minutes. The 6×200’s in the middle are thrown in the middle to produce a bit of lactic acid making the final threshold a bit tougher. This final effort trains the body to clear the Lactic acid, returning it into the energy system, whilst running at a strong effort.

This is a particularly good training session for triathletes as the last effort mimics the feeling of running straight off the bike.

Run/Swim/Run

Thursday came along and I was in good mental shape to tackle the run/swim/run session again. I find I’ve got to be really psyched up to do this one otherwise none of it happens at all. I also have to really control my pace on the run to the pool knowing that its a good 3 hour training session. I took a slightly shorter route this week which meant 7 miles each way and just under a 1min negative split.
The swim was tough as always, Sprint intervals interspersed with recovery pull. I cramped up in my right foot in the final 25m all-outs and missed the final 100m or so. But overall, another good session.

Favourite Session of the Week

I got out on Saturday evening to do my long run. This week I’d targeted 12 miles @ 7:30min/mile but as it was a really sunny evening I thought I’d take it off road. I ran up and round Cissbury Ring and then off up Titch Hill to the farmers grave. I felt like all the tiredness disappeared from my legs during this run, I was able to let fly on the downhills and to really put some power down going up.
I knew I was on for a decent average pace which turned out to be 7:26min/mile with an elevation of 1366ft. Pleased as punch with that, and really pleased to have got out in the hills.

Team profile time – 7 weeks to go until Breca Buttermere. Here’s a couple of guys who look like they’re going to be pretty comfortable in the mountains. Experienced triathletes, wandering adventurers, and a cause for celebration. Lets get to know them.

Who are you, where are you from and how do you know each other?
Tony/Glenn: We are Tony Rafferty, a 32-year-old from Edinburgh and Glenn Tait, a 32-year-old Geordie exiled in Edinburgh. We first met when studying at Heriot Watt University, which seems like ages ago now. Anyway, 10+ years on and we now live in the same area on the outskirts of Edinburgh, which is proving handy now we’re both into doing these silly events. It’s good as we can motivate each other to get out and train, then head to the local to plan the next training session or come up with crazy ideas like signing up for SwimRuns. Was beer to blame for this one? Who knows…

Tony & Glenn – One Doesn’t Swim, One Doesn’t Run

What do you do outside of daft adventures?
Tony: By day I’m a Test Automation Engineer for a software company. By night and at the weekends I’m a keen swimmer, reader of books, watcher of F1 and consumer of coffee.Glenn: I work for a Hospitality Solutions Provider on the IT side, and spend a lot of time in pubs and restaurants – both when working and not working. My main interest is running. I prefer to run silly long distances but I’m normally up for any type of adventure and usually make videos of them, which I share on my blog. (which is a link well worth clicking on by the way!)

What’s going to give you the edge over everyone else at Breca Swimrun?
Tony: As you can tell by the team name we each have our individual strengths. If we could do this as a relay we’d possibly do pretty well. We have a distinct ability to compete with each other without either of us realising it. You should see us walk home from the pub together – it’s quite the footrace.
Glenn loves to buy shiny bits of kit so I’m really hoping this may give us an edge… wishful thinking perhaps?Glenn: Tony is right, we have individual strengths. I’m always running away from him and he always swims away from me! We’re really going to have to get a tether. We’ve done a lot of work on the hills, spending most time running in the Pentlands, but I’d say we’re still amateur compared to some of the fell runners. I think my shiny new wetsuit will give me the edge – if only to keep up with Tony!

Are you happy with your teammate or are they the only other idiot you could find? Any amusing stories about them you can share?
Tony: It’s a bit late in the day to say no to being happy with my choice in teammate, isn’t it? In the water, yes Glenn may slow me down, but I’ll do the same on foot so fair is fair. If anything each of us can encourage the other one to keep going in their weaker sport.
I know plenty of idiots but none that share the same appetite for wrapping themselves in neoprene and lycra as I do.Glenn: No, but he’ll do….. *jokes*. Tony moans too much on the run. To be fair I did recently drag him out on a 32km run when it was only supposed to be 25kms, so I think I might have lost his trust and it certainly didn’t help with the whingeing. I’m just glad Tony can’t hear me moan when we’re swimming as sound waves don’t travel that well in swimming pools.Any amusing stories about them you can share?Glenn: Tony once thought a lamb was a white rabbit just merrily sitting next to a sheep.

What attracted you to this race?
Tony: In 2014 I did a middle distance triathlon, which was great fun. Then, in 2015 I did the Edinburgh Marathon, which I found plain old boring. I was looking for something to do in 2016 without doing a full distance triathlon and SwimRun ticked the boxes. I’m hoping the scenery makes up for some of the suffering.Glenn: I’ve done an Ironman, and the cycling is just too long. I wanted something different – some other challenge – and I like the simplicity of this type race. I was glad to finally persuade Tony to do this after sowing the seed quite a while ago! Plus, the Lakes is an awesome area so it’s going to be stunning and epic no matter what the weather!

Is there anything making you nervous? Tony: Definitely the elevation profile and the overall pace we’ll be expected to go at. I have heard that getting the body to transition from swim to run and vice versa multiple times can be a killer too.Glenn: Yes, Tony’s wife is due to give birth three weeks after this race and I think I know where his priorities will stand when the day gets nearer. It isn’t wearing Lycra with me… Tony, shouldn’t this make you nervous too?

Whats your racing experience like?Tony: A couple of sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. A middle distance triathlon, lots of open water swimming and last year the Edinburgh marathon.Glenn: Was Fat. Got not so fat through running in 2010. Went on to do some marathons. Got forced into a sprint triathlon and then forced that person into doing an Ironman with me. I then decided cycling for 8 hours was too much so did Aberfeldy Middle Distance with Tony in 2014, did my first Ultra around Tiree in 2015 and now just keep on running further. My biggest achievement was Ironman in 2013 but I’m especially proud of my 3hr 30 marathon time!

How’s the build up going?
Tony: I was planning on doing a couple of fell races but I’ve not found anything that tickles my fancy yet. Suggestions on races in central/southern Scotland on a postcard please…
The training has been in fits and starts to be honest. We’ve been in the pool twice a week and running three times a week. We’re planning on doing some SwimRun specific sessions in the run up to Breca to work out the logistics of transitioning from OW to running up hills. We’re super lucky to have the Pentland Hills only 10 minutes from our door step.Glenn: I’ve been building up my running to run the John Muir Way Ultramarathon, but I’ve nothing after that until Breca. I agree – we do need to find some local fell races. Training is haphazard really. I swim once/twice a week when I can be bothered to get out of bed early, and run 3 times a week as Tony says. More recently I’ve been trying to complete the 255km John Muir Way trail coast to coast since 1st April and I’ve just done that so been putting some decent running miles in! I think when the reservoirs in the Pentland hills reach a warmer temp we’ll be up there getting some SwimRun practice in!

Getting some hill practice in

Will you be making a weekend of it?
Tony/Glenn: Yes, we’re coming down on the Friday, staying Friday and Saturday (beer!) night then back home on the Sunday. We’re staying in Keswick because we didn’t get ourselves organised in time to get anything in Buttermere booked. It’s also Glenn’s birthday on race day so there’ll be some birthday celebrations once we finish. Please cheer us on and feel free to bring us cake!

Are there any questions you’d like to put to other teams/organisers/experienced SwimRunners? Tony: To the other teams: please don’t make us look too bad. To experienced SwimRunners: for fuelling, should we carry a couple clif bars in a pocket and eat going up hill or, struggle on without fuelling? Also, socks or no socks?Glenn: I hadn’t thought about socks – that’s a good question! Tony: I will let you store some cliff bars in my shiny new wetsuit (it even has a pocket – how fancy) if you drag me through the water, thanks! To the experienced SwimRunners: does a tether get in the way?

You can follow Tony & Glenn’s exploits on Twitter, just click on their names for profiles.

Want to read about some of the other teams involved on July 2nd? Here’s a list of profiles so far…

Total Miles: 28 Miles
Average Pace: 9:04 min/mileLongest Run:14 miles – 50% of totalSpeedwork: 2.8 miles – 10% of total

This week was spent waiting for my legs to recover properly from the Three Forts Half Marathon.
I’m surprised that race took as much out of me as it did, I kind of thought I’d be able to resume training as normal immediately afterwards, that’s why I opted for the half over the full distance. Boy was I wrong! My legs still feel like jelly now.

I skipped my run/swim/run session this week as I felt too tired. My legs felt like I’d probably trip over if I tried to run, let alone throw a swim in there as well. Aside from my Saturday afternoon splash about with my son in the small pool at Splash Point, that meant no swimming at all this week.

Out of the sessions that I did manage to hit, Wednesday night track was probably my favourite.
As we’re now into triathlon racing season, our emphasis at the track is moving more towards fast reps to push VO2 max and improve running form. There’s nothing quite like running fast to focus on every aspect of your body position. Drills are good for concentrating on links in the chain, but actually pushing the pace makes you think about what your hips are doing, and whether you’re really pushing that ground away behind you.

The 600’s were really tough, and I think I still had too much of the HM in my legs to be able to maintain the pace I wanted in these. I dropped a few seconds on each set on these longer reps. But I felt great for anything 400m and under, hitting all my splits and putting in a good hard effort.

One of the session aims was “Exhilaration Not Exhaustion,” to enjoy the sensation of running fast. I reckon I was 50/50 by the end of the evening, great fun.

I popped out on Friday to do 10 miles which would have been fine had I not chosen a route that was 14 miles long. I accidentally ran up the Ferring Rife too which was midge central. Trying to run with your mouth closed after 11 miles is impossible and looking in the mirror when I got home, my face looked like a car numberplate after a 200mile motorway journey, covered in dead flies! (I promise you, I was not running that fast!)

Next week I’m hoping to get back to some sort of consistency, the balance of speed/long/easy running is all wrong at the moment and I definitely need to get back in the pool.
I guess overall though, not a bad recovery week.

April was great, I really enjoyed the consistency I achieved this month. And it paid off.
I hit my target for mileage (just about), and my longest run was a 1:58 16miler. I managed to swim 3 out of 4 weeks too, running to and from the pool each time.

The Even More Positives

I surpassed my A target in the mid-month 5k race, setting a new PB of 18:11 which I know I can beat in better conditions. Especially if I can keep the training up. I’m fairly confident of going sub-18 in my next outing.

The Must Do Betters

Now we’ve got lighter evenings, I need to make the most of the opportunity to run some off-road hills. The 3 Forts Half route, and some trails around Cissbury & Chanctonbury Ring are going to become very good friends of mine very soon.
I also need to start getting my kit sorted, I’ve got my eye on a wetsuit, and also some trail shoes. And then its just the accessories. I hope to have all this sorted by the end of May.

The only kit I’ve got so far is the socks! I’ve been trialling almost the full range of Gococo‘s sports socks over the last few months and I’ve put aside a pair of the Compression Superior socks for race day already. Completely blister-proof, warm without being too warm (37.5 technology), and a perfect level of compression that leaves my calves feeling great no matter what the session.

Thanks Gococo for all your support during my training so far!

Any Other Business

I’m now an ITEC Level 4 Sports Massage Therapist. That means I can assess and give treatments with knowledge, skill and confidence. If you’re in Worthing (or local areas) and you’re in need of a massage either to keep you going, or to get you on the road to recovery then give me a shout.

May Goals:Mileage: 175 milesLong Run: 16 miles off roadSwim: Once a week (at least)Yoga: Every Damn DayKit: Get my kit list sorted

Sometimes life just gets in the way of all the miles you’d like to put in.

My wife has been running a wellbeing retreat this week, its the first full one she’s set up and hosted and I’m massively proud of what she’s achieved. She’s done everything from finding the venue, setting up the website and making all the bookings, to delivering Pilates and Health Coaching sessions. Not to mention all the cooking that went with it. She landed features in some greatmagazines along the way and importantly learnt some valuable lessons to take forwards into the next one. (which is running from 11/7/16 to 15/7/16 if you’re interested!)

Whilst she was out doing this, I had my ITEC Sports Massage Level 4 exam to work towards (And also a folder full of case studies and assignments to submit). So every evening after the boy was in bed, I had time to apply myself fully to this task. The first half of the week went by in a bit of a desperate blur, I think there was a 3am, a 2am and a 1am finish on consecutive nights whilst I put the finishing touches to my folder.

Saturday morning arrived and I was a bag of nerves as I made my way over to Brighton for my practical exam. I was comfortable with the client assessment and the treatment but I was really stressed out about the questions that the examiner was going to ask me whilst I was working.
My client helpfully through a few curveballs at me before the exam started by telling me that almost every part of her legs had some sort of niggle. This gave me something else to think about rather than the stress.
An hour later, and I was told I’d passed – I am now a Level 4 Sports Massage Therapist.

I went home and ran the final 2 miles I needed to get me up to my target for April. Boom! Thats 2 goals in one day!

My week finished with the 3 Forts Half Marathon on Sunday – which you can read about in my race report. Unfortunately, my watch won’t upload the data so I guess that means I’m just going to have to go out and run it again, I’m glad its on my doorstep.